OLIVIA DERBYhttp://www.oliviaderby.com
I help online entrepreneurs become successful.Mon, 06 Mar 2017 17:23:37 +0000en-UShourly1Are Facebook Ads Worth The Investment?http://www.oliviaderby.com/are-facebook-ads-worth-the-investment/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/are-facebook-ads-worth-the-investment/#respondSat, 31 Dec 2016 11:18:55 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=1138Discover what Facebook Ads can do for your business. Step up your sales game and start driving traffic, right now. The countdown to 2017 has begun, and with just hours left before we all get a fresh start I thought I would consolidate one of my favorite traffic driving strategies into a quick tutorial. This... Read more »

Discover what Facebook Ads can do for your business. Step up your sales game and start driving traffic, right now.

The countdown to 2017 has begun, and with just hours left before we all get a fresh start I thought I would consolidate one of my favorite traffic driving strategies into a quick tutorial. This approach is near and dear to my heart because it’s quick, it’s cheap, and it works. Simple as that.

I’m going to show you exactly what you can expect out of a Facebook ad campaign. Ads like this can light your New Year traffic on fire. If you happen to be in the coaching business, the health or fitness scene, work with food, or finances…buckle up. This ride was designed for you.

The Adjusted Sales Funnel

One of the most exciting things about the start of every new year comes in the form of an adjusted sales funnel. During the greater part of the year most of our sales funnels look something like the following, with a fairly sizeably distance between awareness and conversion.

Unlike the greater part of the year however, for many businesses, most potential customers will arrive at your store during January on a mission. To purchase something quickly, cheaply, and happily.

At this point of the year people want to start something new. They are prepared to make a commitment, and they are ready to pay for it.

PRO TIP: If you’ve got a subscription service to offer or an option to pay upfront for a 6 or 12 month period of your services, now is the time to promote that.

Because of this super goal oriented way of shopping, your sales funnel effectively shrinks for the duration of your New Year campaign. The awareness phase is your biggest hurdle. The education phase is scaled back to just the basic facts, and “capture and engage” get skipped, scaled back to almost nothing, or goes missing all together.

These changes get translated into a sales funnel that looks more like this…

This adjustment means you will need to tweak your follow up activities and sales pitch strategy.

Although it might seem like a very academic thing to consider, the implications of a smart sales funnel strategy are very, very real.

During this high spending period people have a finite amount of money available to be spent. This number might be very tangible in the form of a budget, or arbitrary in the form of what each person feels they can afford to part with. Budgeted or not, the New Year spending also comes with an expiration date. The closer January 31st gets the harder it is to convince people to spend that money.

Simply put, if you don’t convert people quickly in January, someone else will.

Adjust your email follow up strategy to be a bit more aggressive, update your remarketing campaign to push more clearly towards a sale, and switch your content strategy on social media to “sales” mode.

It might feel like you’re breaking the cardinal rule of modern marketing by being so straight forward, but this time of year people just don’t require so much nurturing.

The Top of the Funnel

Remember that bit I mentioned earlier about Facebook being one of the cheapest and easiest ways to get in front of an audience?

Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all offer great ad solutions for bloggers and small businesses looking to produce a successful campaign very quickly. With the level of targeting available on each platform and the totally affordable denominations (Facebook has a $5 option for boosted posts) it’s easy to see how these channels are great choices for small businesses.

Speaking from personal experience, I’ve seen Facebook specifically, offer some of the cheapest CPOs (Cost Per Order) of any advertising platform.

What Can I Expect From Facebook Ads?

When you invest in ads on social media (or sponsored Tweets, or boosted posts), you’re basically paying to have your message served to more people than you could get to organically. The only thing you can really expect from ads like this is reach.

Just because you put an ad out there does NOT guarantee it will grab anyone’s attention. That part is up to you and your ability to stand out.
I have, however, a few general formulas that will give you a pretty good idea of the results you can expect from a well executed campaign. Before we dive into those, you need to know a little more about the different types of ads available on the different networks.

The Demographics of Facebook

Facebook ads give you the option to run campaigns on several platforms. You can choose to include Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Atlas, and Audience Network (5). Keep in mind though, that the people who are using Facebook, Instagram, and those other apps are probably not the exact same group of people. Each platform caters to a different type of person.

As of April 2015, Facebook was populated by about 72% adult users whereas adults on instagram make up just 28% of the social network (6). Basically, you’re way more likely to run into an adult on Facebook than you are on Instagram. This is an important distinction depending on what exactly you’re marketing. Is your ideal customer a woman in her 30s who has just started her own business? Facebook might be a better bet. You can control which networks your ad gets published to, which makes Facebook advertising really powerful.

Facebook also offers several different types of ads, each designed for a different goal. This conscious optimization of content helps you to reach your own goals much more effectively.

Each of these ad options offers a slightly different set of options to configure. But the real question is…which one works the best?

Well, “best” is a relative term.

I’ve compiled all the data from all the campaigns I’ve run in the last year to find out which Facebook ads worked the best, what an average result from a campaign is, and what exactly your money buys. The data I’m using to draw these conclusions has been created over 75 campaigns conducted between November 2015 and October 2016, from accounts in the USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark.

It’s important to keep in mind that your industry, your targeting settings, your ad settings, text, and copy, and your offer all play a big part in changing the metrics you achieve. The data below is designed to give you an idea of what an “average” campaign that I’ve run looks like compared to the data collected by a few other sources.

How Much Reach Will I Get with Facebook Ads?

Generally speaking, your targeting settings and budget will influence the reach on your ads more than anything. Over the last year I’ve collected data on campaigns run with a $150 budget all the way up to a $50,000 budget. I’ve run campaigns through the Ads Manager, the Power Editor, and the Business Manager.

My favorite way to create and manage ads is by far the Ads Manager. I feel that it’s the most organized and consistent of the 3. It is also worth noting that the reach you are estimated to achieve actual varies based on which ad editor you’re using.

The table below demonstrates the average reported reach that my accounts have realized broken down by price point.

An investment of $150 led to an average reach of 25,000 people, but an investment of $5,000 usually put us around a reach of 1 million people. Facebook of course changes the amount of reach it provides for the price all the time. This data should serve to temper your expectations. Doubling your investment doesn’t always mean doubling your reach. Depending on your unique product it may be a better investment to run several ads simultaneously directed at different groups of people, rather than investing more with each ad. This way of thinking makes sense until about the $5000 mark, where your reach dramatically increases when upping the investment.

Invested

Reach

$150

25,000

$500

70,000

$1,000

100,000

$2,000

120,000

$5,000

1,000,000

Another way to look at this however, to simply evaluate the cost per impression (CPI) of each campaign. CPI is actually the cost per 1,000 impressions. My average CPI for the data I’ve collected was about $3,04 for a sponsored story. Salesforce cites the average CPI for this same type of ad as $3,64 (7).

How Many Clicks Can I Expect?

The clicks your ads get will vary wildly based on the messaging and design of your ads, your offer, the market you are serving them to, and the time of day your ad is up. For comparisons sake the table below demonstrates the average number of clicks I’ve seen during my campaigns, versus the estimated number of “clicks per day” that Facebook predicts while you’re setting up your ad. Both sets of data have been confined to just 1 day intervals.

The data in this table comes directly from the metrics calculated for actual advertising campaigns that I’ve run this year.

Collected Data

Facebook Predicted

Investment

Clicks

Investment

Clicks

$150

562

$150

95-167

$500

2,755

$500

315-586

$1,000

6,697

$1,000

625-1,161

$2,000

10,150

$2,000

1,250-2,321

$5,000

54,107

$5,000

3,125-5,804

As you can see, the difference between actual and predicted is massive, and just goes to show you exactly how a well managed campaign, employing best practices and using a strong target market can make a tremendous difference on your budget.

If we calculate the click through rates on the data I’ve collected, my average CTR is about 3.75%, but the average CTR for all facebook ads (7) is 1.1%.

The reason?
Most users of Facebook ads fail to set up their campaigns properly, or fail to target their ads to a strong core audience.

What is a Good Click Through Rate?

In short, a 1-2% click through rate will serve you well. This level of CTR is totally achievable for small businesses by using simple common sense and a basic understanding of how to use the tools Facebook provides.

Go Launch A Facebook Ads Campaign!

The best way to determine if a channel works for you and your business is to try it. Start by setting a modest budget and put in the effort to set up your ads, optimize your strategy, and evaluate the results over a few weeks.

“Test and learn” is foundation of all good business strategy.

Be smart about your ads. Set your goals before you spend a cent. And don’t be afraid to experiment.

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/are-facebook-ads-worth-the-investment/feed/0You’re Handling Customer Service All Wrong (Here is how to fix it)http://www.oliviaderby.com/youre-handling-customer-service-wrong/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/youre-handling-customer-service-wrong/#commentsTue, 18 Oct 2016 20:05:34 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=1106Stellar customer service is the difference between keeping clients over the long haul and losing them at the first bump in the road. Use these strategies to keep your customers happy, encourage referrals, and build a business on solid relationships. Customer Service is Subjective Anyone who has spent much time in Europe knows that customer... Read more »

Stellar customer service is the difference between keeping clients over the long haul and losing them at the first bump in the road. Use these strategies to keep your customers happy, encourage referrals, and build a business on solid relationships.

Customer Service is Subjective

Anyone who has spent much time in Europe knows that customer service here is very different from The States.

As an American living abroad I can’t help but compare the standards of the two continents when it comes to things like this. This particular topic represents a huge, massive, MONUMENTAL difference.

Story time

I want to share with you an experience I just had with some really really terrible customer service. Afterwards, I’m going to show you how you can use what I learned from it to keep your customers happier, longer.

As most of you know, we moved from Berlin to Stockholm about 8 months ago. Customer service in Berlin was just generally awful (with a capital A). I’m going to give Germany a pass this time and focus on something that happened here in Sweden which has a much clearer problem/solution relationship.

When we got to Stockholm we leased a car. The service we experienced when we were shopping for it was bad. Really bad. Across every brand and dealership we dealt with it was so bad we actually felt personally offended by many sales people.

Looking back now, I can understand where that negativity was coming from. Brands that do not emphasize education for their sales teams, breed sales people who are uninformed and frustrated. Think about it. Having the tell people “I don’t know” over and over again has to be frustrating.

It’s a vicious cycle that creates bad customer service every step of the way.

Eventually desperation set in ( we could only rent crazy over priced cars for so long). We just decided to block out the rude and uninformed sales people, march into Skoda and push the process forward ourselves.

The Worst Case Sales Scenario

After an exhausting 6 hours (6! To lease a car!) we walked out with a disappointing car. It was way below the standard we were looking for, and our ideal price point.

This is super important if you are involved at all with sales.

When customers walk away with a product they need, but aren’t in love with, spending less than they planned, everyone loses. You have failed.

The immediate losses from bad customer service:

1. You as a sales person have lost income. Money in your pocket has been voluntarily given up. Simply put, your customer wanted to spend more with you, but didn’t.

2. You as a business have lost income.

3. The customer is unsure about their purchase, and remains unconvinced. This begins the relationship on a foundation of hesitation and uncertainty.

Those seem like pretty substantial losses to start with. The most serious losses, however, compound as time goes on.

The Long Term Losses from bad customer service:

1. Customers who aren’t happy have no blinders. Unhappy customers who have left the sale wondering if they made the right decision will look for problems.

Small issues that would have been overlooked had the customer been thrilled, get exaggerated.

2. That customer will never be happy with the purchase.

Face the facts here. We all like a deal. But, no matter how small your budget is, if you walk away with a product that cost less than you planned on spending, but is less of a product than you need, that product is going to frustrate you.

3. No referrals for you.

For business owners like us, referrals are straight money. If I’m looking for an awesome espresso machine and a friend friend says “I have X and I freaking love it”, I am buying that espresso machine. End of story.

Customers are never quiet. Good or bad, they talk. When social media is so accessible you can bet that those comments will reach more people than ever.

Customers are never quiet. Good or bad, they talk. Social media is so accessible you can bet that those comments are going to reach people.

As a marketer, I can promise you this old cliche you heard in college is 100% accurate. It is cheaper to keep clients than to find new ones. When your clients are pissed, or even neutral about you and your product, they will not become repeat customers.

A Lesson in the Silver Lining

So, back to the story. When we left that dealership, nobody was happy. We should have known right away that we would never be satisfied with this purchase. The car we got was not what we wanted. It did not have the features we expected from a family car, and left us feeling like something was missing.

When we went back to the dealership for things like oil changes, tire changes, picking up a spare key, we experienced really awful, ruin your day kind of service every single time. In our minds, the whole experience continued a downward spiral. Throughout the whole process a lack of organization and a lack of information was at the heart of every problem.

And I kept thinking to myself, “there is a lesson here”.

What that lesson was didn’t quite reveal itself until I had a client tell me that she felt like i needed a better system of organization in place to keep track of her account.

This amazing client of mine (whom I have tremendous respect for and a great relationship with) gave me a killer opportunity. I could either continue on the path I was on, offering my clients the same problem I was seeing with that dealership, making me an angry hypocrite…or, I could put my preaching to the test and actually fix it. It seemed so easy for the dealership to fix their problem, it should be easier for me to fix my own.

The Customer Service Secret

Every business has customers (in one form or another). Every business can have stellar customer service. But customer service is not about giving your buyer every single thing they ask for and revamping your entire process to meet the demands of other people.

Awesome customer service is about listening to people.

That’s it.

If you can develop ways for your company to really listen to your customers you will end up with a whole lot of happy people saying wonderful things about you.

This seems a little vague though. And I’m not one to spout a lot of theory and then leave you hanging.

Skoda could have turned that entire experience around if they had listened to us voice our frustrations about lost paperwork, unorganized communication, and lack of information by simply writing down a few key notes on our account record.

Listen and Respond

As a small business owner, listening to your customers should be even easier than that for you. Since you personally spend so much time with your clients you have the opportunity to listen and demonstrate that you’ve listened every time you make contact.

There are a million different ways to get feedback from your clients, and I’ll list a few of those in a minute, but before that, I have one little challenge for you that will dramatically improve every single one of your client relationships right now.

The next time you communicate with any of your clients, reference 1 thing they have said to you in the past.

“How did that conference go?”, “Is you son feeling better?”, “You mentioned you were having trouble with our tracking system, we’ve got a developer working on it.”, “How did you like that new software you were trying out?”

Work related or not, reference something that came up in your last conversation and your clients will suddenly feel like they matter.

Keeping all that information straight is the only challenge here. This is where a good CRM comes into play.

If you don’t have one already I strongly suggest you implement one. Like today.

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/youre-handling-customer-service-wrong/feed/34 Tips For A Crazy High Converting Landing Pagehttp://www.oliviaderby.com/4-tips-crazy-high-converting-landing-page/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/4-tips-crazy-high-converting-landing-page/#commentsMon, 11 Jul 2016 23:36:12 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=1073I think I’ve gotten a hundred emails in the last 2 days asking me for tips and advice on “making my landing page convert”. It’s a good question. I mean, 68% of B2B businesses use landing pages to collect new leads that eventually convert. (source). So what exactly is wrong with your landing page? The... Read more »

It needs to do all that without being long, boring, or difficult to read.

Here are a few rules that will help point you in the right direction.

1. The Bigger the Ask, the Longer the Page

Pages designed to collect contact info in exchange for a good piece of content don’t need to be very long. A paragraph and an image are usually enough to do the trick. In general though, your page should have about 500 words minimum. You can check out Crazy Egg’s article on that here.

Hubspot does a great job at creating awesome, simple landing pages that collect contact info in exchange for great free downloads.

This page for their free ebook, Lifecycle Loop has all the elements of a good landing page, but makes it very clear that they don’t expect very much of you. A few short paragraphs addressing the problem readers are having and what the ebook covers is all it takes to get you on board.

Zapier on the other hand (sorry guys), does a not so great job at putting together a page for a free ebook. Aside from the fact the design is confusing and uncomfortable, the content is a little overkill. After scrolling for for several seconds, you start to forget why you’re there in the first place.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the size of your “ask” is directly related to how much money you’re asking for. Your ask might not require any money at all from your reader’s but may be demanding a lot of time or effort.

For example, Hubspot offers a free CRM (check it out here…I’m a big fan!), but knows that asking readers to transition to a totally new system to manage their business means that user will be investing a lot of time into setting it up and keeping it updated every day. Although this product is still free, they take the time and the space on the landing page to really sell the product.

2. More Paragraphs, Fewer Sentences

People have short attention spans. You probably already know that, but do you know what to do with that info?

The best landing pages (like the best blog posts) present their key content points in short, simple blocks of text. Keep your paragraphs short by cutting out the fluff (anything salesy or unnecessary) and focus on your main ideas to keep your page length under control.

Bellabeat does an amazing job at this on their page for the LEAF. They break down their sales pitch into a handful of key points, and let the photos and graphics do most of the talking.

3. No Copy is Right on the First Shot

Your readers really are the only ones who will know when you’ve landed on the perfect configuration of content. It doesn’t matter how many landing pages you’ve written, how long you’ve been working in marketing, or how well you know your end user. No landing page is perfect on the first go.

Once you’ve created your content, designed a beautiful page, and sprinkled in kick ass call to actions, publish your page and start looking for places to improve. A/B testing is every marketer’s best friend and should be something you get used to very very quickly.

Most landing page development programs have easy A/B testing features built right into them. In many you can simply enable the A/B test option, make any changes you want to try, and your software will serve the pages in a random succession to collect data on how well each performs.

If your page isn’t converting, look to your copy first and then to your design.

The landing page for a webinar I did awhile back with Riss Lawton took several revisions before we landed on a configuration that converted at a rate we were happy with.

The page’s copy went through no less than 7 rounds of edits while it was live and what began converting at 2% finished out the campaign converting at 25%.

4. The Most Important Sections Need To Be The Longest

The most important section of your content is not the features. Any good sales person will tell you that you need to sell the value of your product, not the features. This is true whether you’re selling cars, info products, spots in a mastermind program, or trying to get people to sign up for a free webinar.

Invest the bulk of your time into creating content for the section of your landing page that creates need and builds value, and the section that offers social proof supporting your claims.

Owlet does a really nice job of creating value in the content on its landing page. They spend way more than 50% (closer to 70 or 80% sometimes) connecting with their potential customers, addressing the pain points every parent can understand, and explaining how the Owlet fits into their reader’s lives.

Creating a landing page that converts at a crazy high rate really only requires one thing from you. An open mind. Just like anything else in business, a great landing page should grow and evolve as you learn more about your customers and their patterns.
Now put your nerd hat on and go update your less than superstar landing pages.

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/4-tips-crazy-high-converting-landing-page/feed/11Your Target Market Vs. Your Target Audiencehttp://www.oliviaderby.com/roniece-wright-target-market-vs-target-audience/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/roniece-wright-target-market-vs-target-audience/#respondTue, 21 Jun 2016 09:44:29 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=896As a blogger, the very first thing that we crave is an audience. We want people to visit our blogs, and engage in the content that we worked so hard on, right? After blogging for a while, you think to yourself, “It’s about time I start making money. I’m ready to go full-time.” Well, before... Read more »

As a blogger, the very first thing that we crave is an audience. We want people to visit our blogs, and engage in the content that we worked so hard on, right? After blogging for a while, you think to yourself, “It’s about time I start making money. I’m ready to go full-time.” Well, before you can grow your audience, you need to know who exactly those people are. Before you go selling anything, you need to know who exactly you’re selling to.

What Is a Target Audience?

It’s about who you’re talking to. You know? Staying up all night writing those blog posts, creating those e-courses, finishing that e-book? Your target audience are the people who crave your voice, opinion, and information that you offer in the content you create.

Let’s be honest, you don’t blog for you. Yes, blogging may be your passion, but if it’s something you want to turn into a full-time career, it has to have a purpose. Your passion is for you, your purpose is for others. So, your target audience is the group of people that you serve with your purpose. Whatever problem your blog solves, whatever frustration it eases, etc., the purpose of that is to help your target audience.

So, let’s say you’re a designer. Designing websites may be your passion, but your purpose is to create beautiful websites for a certain group of people. Who are those people? Bloggers? Businesses? Brands? Who is your ideal reader, client, or customer? Who are the people you love to help the most? Who are the people you love to serve?

How To Find Your Target Audience

When you first start blogging, you don’t necessarily have an audience to find. At that point, you’re just creating whatever you THINK your audience needs. Once you start create more and more content and you see your page views start to go up, it’s time to start paying attention to your statistics. Not only do you need to what kind of people are latching on to your content, but you also need to pay attention to which content they are latching onto. By doing this, you figure out who they are and what they from you. Pay attention to what kind of people are you following you on social, what kind of people are commenting on your posts, etc.

Starting to truly observe them is one way, but one other thing you can do is just come out and ask. It may sound a little “forward,” but that’s only because it is. To be honest, people love when you just come out and ask them what you want to know. The online world can be so shady and conniving sometimes, so people want to know that you’re being up front.

“The online world can be so shady and conniving sometimes, so people want to know that you’re being up front.” @bossladyblogger#girlboss

You can use survey software like Typeform or SurveyMonkey to send something out to your social media or email list and just politely ask them to fill it out. Don’t sugarcoat it. You don’t have to offer a prize to do so – just ask. Let them know that you are just trying to get to know them better and what they struggle with so that you can continue to create amazing content for them.

What Is a Target Market?

Your target market is smaller set of your target audience. Your target audience is the group of people who love your blog and are willing to buy from you. They read your content constantly, sign up for your email list, download all your freebies, share your content with others, etc. Think of your target market as all of the people out there who have a need for what you’re offering AND could become a customer one day.

Your target market is the people who can’t live without investing their money into you. They are the people who save up just to purchase your course, or get on a 6-month payment plan just to have you as their coach. These are the people who find your free content AND your paid content the most useful and the most valuable. I like to define the difference between target audience and target market by using the Victoria’s Secret store in the mall.

There are some girls who love VS. They go inside every time they go to the mall. They browse for a little while, but don’t necessarily always come out with a purchase. They’re signed up for the newsletter, possibly even use the sales that come to their inbox.

Then, there are the other girls who have to force themselves not to even look in the store’s direction because they know that they’ll spend all their money inside. Every time they go in they come out with a purchase, because they absolutely adore the products. They put “Go to VS” on their To Do list. They factor it into their budget for the month.

Your target audience is the girls who love Victoria’s Secret. Your target market is the girls who adore Victoria’s Secret.

How To Find Your Target Market

To find your target market, you need to find those people who can’t live without you. For example, my target audience is beginner bloggers who want to turn their blogs into businesses. My target market consists of bloggers who are at their highest frustration. Maybe they’ve tried to blog full-time for years and couldn’t succeed. Maybe they’ve tried to start a blog, but are extremely confused and stressed with how to make it all happen.

You need to know your target audience to know your target market. When you start to learn things about your target audience, one of the most important details you want to know is what do they struggle with most. What keeps them up at night? What frustrates them the most?

Once you figure out that pain point, increase that pain level times ten. The people who are at that level of frustration, stress, and confusion are your target market. They are the people who absolutely need what you have to offer times ten.

So, let’s do a short recap shall we? Your target audience is made up of all the people your blog is meant to serve. You can find them by creating content and paying attention to who latches onto what OR by simply surveying them. Your target market are the people who can’t help but buy what you’re selling. You can find them by discovering your target audience’s pain points and finding the people who have that same pain point at a greater level.

Check out the interview with Roniece over in the Create Kit Facebook group. If you haven’t already, subscribe to www.OliviaDerby.com here to get access to Create Kit and start building your business with daily challenges and inspiration from some of the best bloggers, coaches, and marketers on the web.

Roniece Wright is the founder and creator of BossLadyBlogger.com where she teaches beginner bloggers how to go from amateur to pro on their transition from blog to professional and profitable business. She believes, “Professionalism builds trust. Your audience has to trust you for anything on your blog to succeed. I help you get to a place where your audience trusts you enough to pay you.”

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/roniece-wright-target-market-vs-target-audience/feed/0The Number 1 Trait of All Successful Bloggershttp://www.oliviaderby.com/number-1-trait-of-all-successful-bloggers/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/number-1-trait-of-all-successful-bloggers/#commentsFri, 17 Jun 2016 11:18:27 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=880This post might be incorrectly named. The number 1 trait of all successful bloggers, of all professionals, hell, of all people, could be more accurate. The single thing that all successful people have in common is a continuous, fiery need to learn something new every single day. As a blogger this concept feels like it’s... Read more »

This post might be incorrectly named. The number 1 trait of all successful bloggers, of all professionals, hell, of all people, could be more accurate.

The single thing that all successful people have in common is a continuous, fiery need to learn something new every single day.

As a blogger this concept feels like it’s magnified. If you’re at the crossroads (with Dean?) and thinking about stepping into this world, weighing the pros and cons of launching a blog and side hustle, you should know that blogging is actually only a small piece of blogging.

That might not make any sense at first glance, but think about this. If you publish 3 posts per week and it takes you about 2 hours per post to actually create the content…that’s only 6 hours of a week that it takes you to “blog”.

What do you do with all the rest of that time? Mojitos and ice cream!?

Unfortunately, it’s not mojitos and ice cream.

As a blogger, especially a new one, you will spend hundreds of hours (if not more) on learning something totally new and foreign to you. “How does mailchimp work exactly?” “Do I need a landing page for this?” “How do I write catchy headlines?” “What makes a good pic for Pinterest?” “How do I edit my own CSS?” Shit. “Where can I learn CSS?”.

I’ve been doing social media and digital marketing professionally for nearly 10 years and I still am looking up tutorials, reading articles, watching webinars, and absorbing information every single day.

Blogging is NOT easy. Blogging is not something you use to rise to stardom overnight. Blogging, like any other career, takes time, energy, dedication, and a whole lot of patience.

Blogging is not something you use to rise to stardom overnight. Like any other career it takes time, energy, dedication, & lots of patience.

With that in mind, I want to share with you one of the best things I’ve ever done for my blog and business.

When I was in college I had a teacher, whose name I no longer remember, insist that we create a “dashboard” for ourselves. Essentially he wanted us to create a list of sources online that we would check out everyday to keep ourselves informed about current events and global happenings. I did the assignment and created a random list of things I didn’t totally care about, got the points, and went on with my life thinking this guy was just a little too excited about his palm pilot.

It wasn’t until years later that I understood what he meant that assignment to be.

Today I have an awesome list of sites that I check out on the daily and that content helps inspire me consistently.

Without my list I would be drained, exhausted, and totally out of creative mojo by now.

How To Create A Dashboard

Here is how to create your dashboard (and a few suggestions for awesome things to follow) using just your favorite browser.

Click on the link below for your favorite browser and check out the full tutorial.

To build a really useful dashboard that doesn’t get boring make sure you’re selecting influencers from a range of subject matters. Include some authors who blog about business, some who talk about social media, some who generally give great advice about technology, sales, current events, writing tips, etc. Don’t skip the good Twitter accounts, and make sure you’re adding a few instagram or photo heavy channels in there too.

If you haven’t already, join me over in the Create Kit Facebook group for daily challenges to grow your business, live chats, and lots more cool stuff. Get access to the group by signing up for my newsletter here, then join the group here.

2. Add Bookmarks For These X Tabs…

3. Name This Bookmarks Folder as “Dashboard”

You will be prompted to choose which directory this new folder of bookmarks will live in. It’s fine to keep it under “Favorites”. Name the folder “Dashboard”.

4. Open Up Safari’s Preferences

Click on “Safari” → “Preferences…”

5. Choose Tabs Folder

Once you’ve got the “Preferences” window up, select the “General” tab. Next to the label “New windows open with” click the arrow to open the drop down menu and select “Choose tabs folder…”.

6. Select the “Dashboard” folder

From the pop up window, choose the “Favorites” directory from the column on the left (this should already be selected if you left the directory as “Favorites”) and select the “Dashboards” folder from the column on the right.

Now, quit Safari and open up a new window. Your brand new dashboard should be waiting for you!

Get into the habit of clicking through each of the tabs every day to stay current on all the cool stuff that’s going on in your industry, and don’t forget to keep a notebook handy to jot down inspiration for new posts, projects, etc.

Using Chrome

1. Find Your Faves

Open up Chrome and create a new tab with each of the sites you want to include in your dashboard.

2. Open “Preferences”

Click on “Chrome” → “Preferences…”

3. Set Pages

Chrome will open a new tab where you can set your preferences. Under the “On Startup” category, click the radio button next to “Open a specific page or set of pages”, then click “Set pages”

4. Use Current Pages

Click the “Use current pages” on the pop up to set all of your current tabs to open when you start up Chrome.

Now, quit Chrome and open up a new window. Your brand new dashboard should be waiting for you!

Get into the habit of clicking through each of the tabs every day to stay current on all the cool stuff that’s going on in your industry, and don’t forget to keep a notebook handy to jot down inspiration for new posts, projects, etc.

Using Firefox

1. Find Your Faves

Open up Firefox and create a new tab with each of the sites you want to include in your dashboard.

1. Preferences

Once you’ve got your tabs open, click “Firefox” → “Preferences…”

3. Use Current Pages

From the “General” tab, click “Use Current Pages” under the “Start Up” heading.

Now, quit Firefox and open up a new window. Your brand new dashboard should be waiting for you!

Get into the habit of clicking through each of the tabs every day to stay current on all the cool stuff that’s going on in your industry, and don’t forget to keep a notebook handy to jot down inspiration for new posts, projects, etc.

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/number-1-trait-of-all-successful-bloggers/feed/5How Much To Charge for Ad Space on Your Bloghttp://www.oliviaderby.com/how-much-to-charge-for-ad-space-on-blog/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/how-much-to-charge-for-ad-space-on-blog/#commentsMon, 13 Jun 2016 22:15:45 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=875Find out how much to charge for ad space on your blog. Spoiler alert: there is a mathematical foundation behind it that even the most skeptical marketers can get behind. Pricing is an art and a science that brands devote countless resources to, and are constantly re-evaluating their conclusions. There are entire departments dedicated just... Read more »

Find out how much to charge for ad space on your blog. Spoiler alert: there is a mathematical foundation behind it that even the most skeptical marketers can get behind.

Pricing is an art and a science that brands devote countless resources to, and are constantly re-evaluating their conclusions. There are entire departments dedicated just to the psychology behind shopper’s reactions to prices.

When it comes to pricing ad space on your blog, settle in for a lot of trial and error. The web is full of complicated, non-specific suggestions ranging from “Between $20 and $21.73 per ad” to “1 cent for every visitor” and my personal favorite “your household budget divided by the number of ad spaces on your page”.

I’m not kidding. I actually read a post that suggested you use your household budget as the foundation for your blog’s pricing. Imagine that conversation please.

Marketer: “What data are you using as the foundation of your pricing structure? Is it click through rate?”Blogger: “No it’s my household budget. Little joey needed a new tuba for chorus, so the prices are a little high this month.”Marketer: …

Full disclosure, pricing is a very personal subject that depends deeply on the community you have built. However…there is more science to it than a lot of these….I’m just going to say it…ridiculous suggestions.

The point I’m trying to make here, is that there is no one right answer to the question “how much should I charge for ad space?”.

Be prepared to experiment with your prices and learn by trial and error (or you can hire me and save a buncha time and money.). You need to balance your actual value to your client with your personal worth. You put a lot of time and effort into your blog, and as long as your posting content consistently and working to grow your readership, your blog is probably worth more than $100 per month.

Although you should be approaching this topic with an adventurous spirit, I do have a little bit of direction for you.

The companies that work with you have 1 goal they hope to achieve by purchasing ad space. They wanna make sales. They obviously are interested in making enough money to cover their investment (the amount you charged them for ad space) plus some.

(If your niche isn’t covered, comment below with your category and I’ll do my best to dig up your X)

Ex.

(5,000 Visitors per month*.01) = 50

50*2 for a fashion and beauty blog =100

We will call this number our “Conversion Total”.

This number represents the expected number of clicks on your ad. It also represents the last step in the purchase process which you can influence. You’ve done your job and gotten people to click on the ad, bringing them to the advertiser’s landing page. From here, it’s up to the advertiser to use good design, content, and follow up to get people to purchase.

This is also the number you would share with your clients as your goal (if they ask).

Note: If you’ve already tried offering opt ins, content upgrades, or ads featuring your own products in your sidebar you can probably tell exactly what your unique conversion rate is. When you add a button to your page, make sure to set up a Goal in Google analytics to track it’s engagement. If you’re data is showing that you’ve got a way higher (or lower) rate of people clicking on that offer, use your own numbers instead of the variables above.

To find your customized conversion rate use the following equation.

Total traffic to your site over 1 month/(sum of clicks on all sidebar ads/number of sidebar ads)=Custom conversion rate.

Ex. 5,000 total site visits over a month/(2,100 total sidebar clicks/3 sidebar ads)= 7.14% of your visitors click on your ads.

Also note the 300 average clicks per ad that were indicated by the 2,100 total clicks/3 sidebar ads will serve as your Conversion Total.

Estimate the number of purchases

To find a price to start with, you need to figure out about how many of the people who click the ad will actually make a purchase. This part is quite hard to estimate for someone else’s website.

However, it’s pretty safe to assume the lowest common denominator here is about 2%.

Conversion Total*2%=Estimated Number of Purchases

Ex. Keeping with our fashion and beauty blog example…

100*.02=2 sales from your site.

Assign a product value

If you’re working with an advertiser who is selling one specific product this part will be easy. If not, you might need to spend a little time on their site looking for popular products.

You are looking for a product price which represents the average amount a shopper pays to your client. Call this the product value.

Sales from your site*product value=Return on Investment for you Client

Most women, however, are looking to standardize their pricing. That means they want to have one set price they can quote to all companies, large or small. This makes sense, because like I said before, you’re really only responsible for the clicks on the ad. After that it’s up to your client to actually convince people to buy.

To settle on a standardized price you will need an average basket price that represents the industry in which you blog. This varies wildly, but according to Statista the average online order value placed on a desktop device over the last 4 years was about 75.9USD.

According to Statista the average order value placed on a desktop device over the last 4 years was about 75.9USD https://t.co/G9AEBgvivG

So, if we plug in this data into our Return On Investment (ROI) equation, we can estimate the average revenue your site could generate for an advertiser.

Ex. 2 sales from your site*75.9=$151.8

According to our earlier example with the fashion and beauty blog, the advertiser could expect to make about $151.80.

What makes buying ad space worth it?

We know advertisers want to make their money back with sales from your site, but that’s not all they want. They are looking at you like an investment.

At a minimum you should be striving to return at least 30% more than they paid you for the ad and more like 100% more if you’re looking for reliable repeat business.

If we take assume an average return of 50%, we can work backwards to find out what we should be charging for the ad.

100% (the cost of the ad) +50%(the amount of return for the advertiser) =150%

150%/50% (the amount of return for the advertiser) = 3

(Total sales from your site/3)*2= the total cost of your ad

Ex. ($151.80 (sales from your site)/3)*2= $101.20 Total cost of the ad

Who cares about these numbers?

Marketers. Marketers care about these numbers. Any brand who is looking to advertise with you will want to know with as much certainty as possible, that you will be a good investment. Even if they are only spending $101.20 to work with you.

Include your total monthly visitors, your estimated conversion rate, the estimated return on investment for your customer, and the total cost of your ad space in your media kit.

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/how-much-to-charge-for-ad-space-on-blog/feed/32Double Your Traffic with StumblUpon in 15 Minutes A Dayhttp://www.oliviaderby.com/double-traffic-stumblupon-15-minutes-day/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/double-traffic-stumblupon-15-minutes-day/#commentsMon, 30 May 2016 19:59:20 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=859Got 15 mins? I’m going to teach you everything you need to know to start using StumblUpon to drive massive traffic to your blog with the easiest to manage social network on the web. There are literally hundreds of different social networks out there, each with their own crazy little hangups. All of them are... Read more »

Got 15 mins? I’m going to teach you everything you need to know to start using StumblUpon to drive massive traffic to your blog with the easiest to manage social network on the web.

There are literally hundreds of different social networks out there, each with their own crazy little hangups. All of them are great (in their own “special“ way…*ahem* I’m looking at you Fb) for driving traffic to your website, and all of them require, let’s face it, a shit ton of work.

Well not ALL of them.

One of the best platforms for driving tons (and I mean MASSIVE MASSIVE) traffic to your site, is also one of the web’s most underrated networks.

StumblUpon is this magic little corner of the internet that has the potential to be totally killing it for your blog, but most people are using it totally wrong. If you’re one of those people who tried it, got zero results then kicked it to the curb, this article is for you.

If you can manage to devote just 15 mins a day to the network, you can apply a super straightforward formula that gets the StumblUpon gods to smile on you, and gift you will loads of happy visitors.

I tried it and in just 2 weeks, doubled my traffic.

The 1 & Only Thing You Need To Know

If you take nothing else away from this post, I want you to know this 1 thing.

Slow. Down.

Because of the super easy, almost autopilot setup StumblUpon has got going on, it’s super easy to just open the app, thumbs up a page before it even loads all the way, and tap that big orange button for more content.

This is where most people seriously mess up their accounts and doom themselves to SU purgatory.

For StumblUpon to work for you, you’ve got to let the page load in its entirety, scroll through the content at a readable speed, poke around the site for a minute, and then (and only then), give the content a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Let me reiterate. While you’re going through and applying this formula I’m about to lay out for you…SLOW DOWN.

You might as well make this an enjoyable experience for yourself and start building your account up with content you actually want to read, because you will be reading it.

Setting Up Your Account

Just like any other social network, you need to fill out your profile. Before you get to the
daily routine, you need a good base to work with.

Fill Out Your Profile

Load stumblupon.com, log into your account, and click your profile picture at the top right.
Click “settings”, and then fill out your info. Go through each of the tabs and make sure your profile is filled out properly.

Create Your Lists

Once you’ve finished your profile, the next order of business is your collection of lists. Lists are where you will store your favorite pieces of content, and can be followed by other people. Make sure you’re collecting pages that are actually relevant to the list title, and keep in mind your goals here. “To curate content that attracts and benefits your ideal customer”.

Since you will be reading every piece of content that goes into each list, selecting only the best stuff out there should be no problem.

Click the star in the upper left corner, and choose “Create New List”.

Create 10-15 lists for categories related to your business, and your personal interests, in which you will be curating collections of content.

These lists should be titled with keyword rich names, and not overly creative headings. Use titles like “Blogging”, “DIY”, “Gardening”, “Writing Tips”, “PR Updates”, etc.

Your Daily Routine

Just like all the other networks, StumblUpon is governed by an algorithm. Fortunately, this one is a bit easier to work with than some of the others. Use the below routine as the foundation for your traffic building strategy with SU, and then break out and experiment with spending more time in each of the areas to see what yields the best results for you.

TIP: Download the app for a more efficient experience.

8 mins – Stumbl Stumbl Stumbl

Get stumbling. Log on daily and start clicking that big orange button.

Make sure you’re really actually reading the pages you are giving a thumbs up, and adding your favorite articles to your lists. Try to spend at least 1 full minute on pages you like and make sure you’re clicking around to other pages within the displayed blog.

If you like the article, leave a comment, or follow the person who “discovered” it.

Don’t just skim through posts and speed scroll to the bottom. That’s not how this works. Slow down, really read through the content, and if you like it, grant it a thumbs up.

To get StumblUpon to work for you, slow down, really read through the content, and if you like it, grant it a thumbs up. #socialmedia#blog

You’re going to spend a full 8 minutes on this anyways. Don’t get fooled into thinking SU is giving you points for the sheer number of pages you stumble. They want you to actually read and engage with the content.

6 mins – Add Your Favorite Blog Posts from Other Authors

Another important piece of this routine is doing your part to discover other pages. Spend at least 6 full minutes a day adding new pages by clicking your profile picture, then selecting “Add A Page”.

Fill out the description with a few words about the subject of the article and click “Save”. It literally takes 10 seconds or less to add a page, so come prepared with a solid handful of links to paste in.

If you’re having trouble finding links to add, join a Facebook group with a blog post promo thread and help your fellow bloggers out by adding their content.

TIP: I use Evernote to collect links throughout the day to add to SU when I work on it in the evening.

Remember to add these pages to your lists when you really believe they fit.

Finally, here comes the fun part. How exactly is all this driving traffic to your blog? Well, if you’re doing your job and contributing to the StumblUpon community, this is the step that will drive up the metrics for your site.

Go ahead and add your latest blog post in the same way you added posts from other authors.

Make sure you fill out the “Safe For Work” radio button and the description field. Use a tag in the description that matches up with one of the available categories in the “interests” lists.

For every 20-25 pages you add from other authors, you can add 1 page of your own. And that’s it. That really is all you need to do to get SU to show your page over and over again to people who have listed that category in their interests.

Bask in Your Traffic

15 mins a day can actually double your traffic with StumblUpon, and it doesn’t take rocket science to make it work.

Put in the time, complete the routine, give it 2 solid weeks, and watch your referral traffic from corp.stumblupon.com and stumblupon.com skyrocket.

A word of caution though…It’s easy to see great results with this network, but just like any other channel, it’s important to diversify your traffic referral sources. Don’t rely on any one channel to bring visitors to your site.

The algorithm could change at any moment, your account could be flagged as spam, or the network could disappear from the face of the earth entirely. Make sure you’re working to generate traffic from a variety of sources and don’t ever get too dependent on a single one.

Make sure you’re working to generate traffic from a variety of sources and don’t ever get too dependent on a single one. #blogging#hustle

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/double-traffic-stumblupon-15-minutes-day/feed/39What Goes Into An Epic Blog Post?http://www.oliviaderby.com/what-goes-into-an-epic-post/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/what-goes-into-an-epic-post/#commentsTue, 24 May 2016 21:58:27 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=851What makes an awesome, shareable post that gets comments and ultimately drives sales for your business? I’m going to show you exactly how to write the perfect blog post and how to get your readers coming back for every piece of gold on your site. Obviously, as a blogger your content is the core of... Read more »

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What makes an awesome, shareable post that gets comments and ultimately drives sales for your business? I’m going to show you exactly how to write the perfect blog post and how to get your readers coming back for every piece of gold on your site.

Obviously, as a blogger your content is the core of your business. Even if you’re not exclusively a blogger, maybe you offer a service or a product that you use your blog to drive traffic to, content is the driving force behind your success with social media.

The simple fact is, longer, content rich, well designed, and actionable posts have a better impact on your business than any other kind of post.

It might seem a little counter intuitive that more robust content is favored online. Isn’t the web all about the TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) version of stuff? That’s why Twitter exists, right?

Longer, content rich, well designed, and actionable posts have a better impact on your business than any other kind of post. #blogger

While I LOOOOVE twitter (I’m on that like frosting on a cupcake, yo.), the pithy little quotes in 140 characters or less represent just one side of the internet. Social media is all about being conversational and finding content in the blink of an eye. Your blog is NOT about this.

Your blog is a resource. Your blog is the thing those pithy little quips link to. Your blog is the place people go to solve a problem, to learn something, to overcome an obstacle. Think of it as the instruction manual to your clients life.

Yes, it should be super easy to navigate and be skimmable, but the content should be pure freaking gold.

I get asked a lot if it’s better to create 1 super awesome post that’s crazy long, or break it up into several smaller posts. The answer (from loads of testing under countless conditions), is “it depends.”

Don’t be disappointed. I promise I have something more valuable than that for you.

The truth about post length, is that people actually prefer longer articles with clear, actionable steps…TO A POINT.

The Sweet Spot = 1,500 Words

A short blog post might be informational, but usually, people are looking to dive in deeper with your topic. 1,500 words is about as deep as they are willing to go. Anything over 1,500 words you start to see much faster scrolling (skimming behavior), and less engagement with that last part of the post.

For most of your content, if you’re spilling over into the 18-, 19-, 2000 word mark, you might be better off splitting that idea into 2 posts.

Easy To Follow Steps

Coming from a marketing background, I have a pretty intimate relationship with “fluff”. I can spot it right off the bat, and it drives me insane. I need you to feel the emphasis on that. Insane.

Fluff is any piece of content that is all about the setup. Gets you excited, convinces you that you’re going to learn something amazing, inspires you to dive right in, then proceeds to drag you through a bunch of talk that never actually says anything. I know you’ve heard it before.

“I’m going to show you exactly how to get clients from whatever social network. It’s going to be great! You’re going to make a million dollars! YAY! The first thing you have to do is…..use that social network. And use it right, and look really pretty, and have a coffee, and then you win.”

What? Did I really just waste 10 minutes of my life on that? No shit, of course I have to use Facebook if I want to get clients from Facebook!

Fluff is a major turn off to readers, it dramatically impacts the number of return visitors to your site, and it does absolutely nothing to convert readers into customers. In fact, producing a lot of mediocre content actually dethrones you as an expert, making it harder to convince customers of your value.

So, if you’re going to write content, make it valuable. Approach every post with the intent of creating a complete, actionable guide to solving a problem, answering a question, or offering a creative solution to an obstacle.

Structure your post so that the reader can walk away with a list of things they can do, right now, to get to an end goal.

When you’re done writing, take a read through your own post and make a list of the steps you have given your reader to work on. If you can’t find any…go back and make your post more valuable.

At the end of this post, for example, you should have a list of items you can check off as you add them to your next blog post. In fact, I’ve created that list for you. Download the Perfect Blog Post Checklist here.

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Clear and Bright Images

It doesn’t matter if you are selling products, services, or some kind of unidentifiable slime, your blog needs photos. People are visual creatures, and make judgements about the value of your content and the quality of your business based on the images that you show them.

Whether that is right or wrong, you need to be taking advantage of it. Each and every single post should have some kind of on brand graphic that leads your readers into the content.

Your post should have a perfectly sized header image at the very top of the post and at least 1 more somewhere else in the text.

If you’re working with a very photo-friendly topic you can shoot for breaking up the text with a image after every 300-500 words.

Easy To Read Structure

After analyzing the behaviors of more than 15,000 readers with 3,000 different pieces of content, I found that there is a clear pattern in the way people interact with blog posts. Most users will click a link bringing them to some digital content, scroll down an arbitrary amount of the page, and then back up to the top before they actually start reading.

What are they looking for? Subconsciously, they are making the decision to either invest the time into reading the content because it looks “valuable”, or to click away.

By using headlines, lists, bullet points, and short paragraphs you can convince a reader that your content is a great investment before they ever read a word.

Organize your content into logical sections and try to include the following in your organizational structure. You might be tempted to think “my post doesn’t need a list”, in which case, you might want to reconsider how you are presenting information.

Content Upgrades

To make your content work harder for you, and attract more shares from readers, offer a content upgrade. These are additional media elements that you add to a post which increases the overall value to the reader. Try to include one with every post to help grow your email list and encourage more social engagement.

A Few Technical Items

You’ve just finished writing an awesome post and you’re anxious to hit publish and start promoting. I hate to rain on your parade…but you’ve got a little more work to do. There are a few technical items that will really help take your post over the top and cross over in the realm of “perfect blog post” status.

The SEO you do in your posts will go a long way to helping your business get found by potential customers. Doing a little extra work here will even make sharing your post on social media easier and save you time writing descriptions.

1. Install and use Yoast SEO plug in
2. Add links to other, relevant posts in your blog
3. Include a keyword rich summary of your article’s topic as your first paragraph
4. Test your Readability Score and shoot for about a 60-70
5. Make a strong call to action for your products/services visible on the page
6. End with a question that encourages comments.

You Know How To Write The Perfect Blog Post
It’s as simple as providing real, genuine value to your readers. The same posts you love to read, are probably very similar to the posts your audience wants to read. Don’t be afraid to take a card from your favorite bloggers and use their work as a template to inspire your own epic content.

To make your job easier, I’ve created a nice little printable checklist that will help keep your posts inline.

Download the Perfect Blog Post Checklist here.

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

What was the word count of your most popular post? List it in the comments. Mine was 1,024.

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/what-goes-into-an-epic-post/feed/268 Non-Spammy Ways To Build Your Email Listhttp://www.oliviaderby.com/8-non-spammy-ways-build-your-email-list/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/8-non-spammy-ways-build-your-email-list/#commentsFri, 20 May 2016 13:18:37 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=837If you’re looking to build your email list fast, here are 8 easy to create ideas that will get your readers subscribing in no time. While I was in NYC, I worked with a huge variety of clients. Everything from major consumer brands sold around the world, to banks and financial institutions, to brand spanking... Read more »

If you’re looking to build your email list fast, here are 8 easy to create ideas that will get your readers subscribing in no time.

While I was in NYC, I worked with a huge variety of clients. Everything from major consumer brands sold around the world, to banks and financial institutions, to brand spanking new nonprofits who hadn’t even been approved to collect donations yet.

Email lists were a big part of almost all of their campaigns, but for new companies and budding nonprofits, the list was the absolute, undisputed, 100% focus for our team.

Why? Because we knew that there was a direct link between the number of legitimate email subscribers and the number of dollars that would come in the door for those clients every month.

It was our top priority to create marketing channels that could be directly tied to income for our clients. We needed to find ways of proving that we were building an audience of the right people, that those people could be converted to customers, and that those customers could be tracked. A well managed email list could do that every time.

1,000 Subscribers to Start

In every campaign we built, there were clear benchmarks that we set for ourselves to measure progress.

A benchmark is a measurable goal that, when met, means you are on track to meet your bigger, more abstract goals.

1,000 email list subscribers was a typical benchmark for my team when working with a new company.

You might think we would spend a lot of money to buy emails, or we had some secret technique for making people sign up. The truth is, we went about getting to that 1,000 subscribers mark in the same way you will.

Produce good content, offer valuable incentives, and design call to actions that get people excited.

So Why Do I Need 1,000 Subscribers?

The straight answer is, in reality, you need way more than 1,000 subscribers. But when you get to that 1,000 mark you can launch a course, a product, a service, and expect to see a response.

The reason we choose 1,000 is simply a matter of statistics. If you have 2 people on your mailing list and 1 of them opens your latest email and clicks through to your website, you will have a 50% click through rate.

If you add 20 more people to your list, do you think you can maintain that 50% click through rate? Probably not.

When you’re working with 1,000 total subscribers, the metrics you get from your list (like click through rate, bounce rate, unsubscribe rate) will be much more representative of your total population of readers. Without getting too technical about it, the numbers start to average out at this point and you can make better decisions based on more accurate data.

How Much is Your List Actually Worth?

For our clients, my team prided itself on achieving an average of a 5% conversion rate each month, and maintaining that through the life of the contract. This was obviously super SUPER valuable to the businesses we worked with, because it meant we were providing a consistent and dependable stream of income.

One of the ladies I’ve worked with saw up to a 10% average conversion rate with her email list. That’s crazy! That means this particular business owner could count on about 10% of her total email list making a purchase every month. She had about 5,000 subscribers and sold planners and stationery to 500 of them every month like clock work. Her average minimum sale was $30, which means she could count on $15,000 to come in from her email list every single month.

An average conversion rate for most bloggers is about 2.5%. So If you’ve got 1,000 subscribers you can expect about 25 of them to become customers.

Are you motivated yet?

1,000 email list subscribers is totally doable. And you can get there quickly. Use the 8 easy to implement offers to build your email list and quickly reach your 1,000 subscriber benchmark.

1. Newsletter

Why You Need It: This is the easiest way to build a list because it requires no immediate content creation, can be referenced constantly throughout your blog and website, and entices users with the promise of more great insights into your business.

Who Signs Up For It: People that love your content sign up for your newsletter. The more great content you can offer each reader the more likely it is that they will subscribe.

**See “How To Book More Clients & Skyrocket Your Traffic Part 2” for help figuring out which content should go in front of which user, when. This article shows you exactly how to design a sales funnel that attracts readers and what to do with that information once you’ve got it.

What To Watch For: Messaging is important here. The few lines of text you use to convince a reader to sign up for your mailing list will either get people clicking, or turn a user off from your site entirely. Try to give people concrete examples of things they will get in your newsletter, how often they can expect to hear from you, and why they are going to benefit from your point of view.

2. Email Course

Why You Need It: If done right, email courses can provide a ton of value for customers in exchange for a relatively low amount of effort on your part. They prove to your audience you know exactly what you’re talking about and give you an opportunity to show them what it’s like to work with you.

Who Signs Up For It: People interested in taking action and making a change will sign up for an email course. If your course is relevant to your product or services, every single person who subscribes is a lead that has a place in their life for what you’re offering.

What To Watch For:Time investment. Remember, you’ve got a business to run here and this is a free offering. Keep control of the time you invest into this course. It should be valuable to your readers and leave them with an actionable set of tasks, but it shouldn’t take you a ton of time to create.

3. Free Download

Why You Need It: People love love love downloads. More people will give up their email addresses for a good download than just about any other form of freebie. They’re quick and easy to create, they leave your readers with a visual and tactile representation of your brand, and you can even really help somebody along the way.

Who Signs Up For It: Everyone. As long as it’s a good download, you will get all kinds of people signing up for this.

What To Watch For: Unqualified subscribers. Because downloads attract the masses (and sometimes the crazies) you’re going to want to build in a follow up email or secondary step that will weed out all the people who don’t fit your ideal customer profile.

4. Webinar

Why You Need It: There is no better way to sell your customers on your awesome personality than to meet with them face to face (even if it is over the web). They’re super fun to do and take WAY less time than you think.

Who Signs Up For It: Webinars require a quite serious time investment from your the attendees. This means they’re probably seriously interested in whatever it is you have to say. That makes them great leads.

What To Watch For: Webinar software can be on the expensive side, especially for new bloggers and small business owners. Try using a Google Hangout to host your webinar for a free solution.

5. Freesource Library

Why You Need It: This is a source of a little bit of conflict for marketers all over the place. Freesource libraries can be seriously time intensive to create and if you’re putting that much work into something, you probably want to get paid. However, freesource libraries can be a great way to stay in constant contact with your subscribers and if you organize it right, you can use all that content to push people through your sales funnel.

Who Signs Up For It: People looking for advice and direction. These could be great leads for you because they are interested in taking action and believe in what you’re producing.

What To Watch For: DIYers. Depending on the caliber of your content, you could end up attracting a lot of people looking to go it alone, and only interested in mooching your content. Make sure you’re content is awesome and that you are providing strong messaging that support the sales of your product/services.

6. Closed Facebook Group

Why You Need It: Community community community. A powerful community is an amazing way to make connections, nurture leads, and get real time feedback from your tribe.

Who Signs Up For It: Social media savvy people. This audience will be the most open to your messaging in real time, and will be looking for live connection with you.

What To Watch For: Great Facebook groups take work. Make sure you’ve got a plan and stay organized so that yours doesn’t become a giant time suck.

7. Host A Survey

Why You Need It: Surveys are a great way to find out what problems your audience is dealing with, what products you can offer to help them, and how you can improve your own business.

Who Signs Up For It: Usually only people who have already joined your tribe will sign up for a survey. If you position it correctly however, you can use the survey to filter out only your most committed leads, and create a list of people who are closer than anybody to becoming a customer.

What To Watch For: Surveys attract loyal readers, but be careful not to alienate less willing followers. Be conscious of how you convince people to fill out the questionnaire and avoid pitching it to your group with messages that cast you in a negative, or unaware light.

8. Give Something Away

Who Signs Up For It: You’ll get a massive range of people that sign up for a giveaway. Not all of them could be relevant to your offering, but a great giveaway will build a list that starts from your tribe and extends into their networks.

What To Watch For: Be careful that the increased activity on your social media accounts from the giveaway doesn’t suddenly drop off after you announce a winner and kill your reach metrics.

]]>http://www.oliviaderby.com/8-non-spammy-ways-build-your-email-list/feed/19How Many Blog Posts Should You Launch With?http://www.oliviaderby.com/how-many-blog-posts-should-launch-with/
http://www.oliviaderby.com/how-many-blog-posts-should-launch-with/#commentsMon, 16 May 2016 21:56:36 +0000http://www.oliviaderby.com/?p=687Starting something new is major fun. Once you make the decision to go after that shiny new dream you’re filled with all of this hope and motivation, and in your head you’ve got these big plans and the path to success seems super clear. Find out exactly how many blog posts you need to launch... Read more »

Starting something new is major fun. Once you make the decision to go after that shiny new dream you’re filled with all of this hope and motivation, and in your head you’ve got these big plans and the path to success seems super clear. Find out exactly how many blog posts you need to launch your brand new site.

“I am finally going to start this blog. I’m going to start this blog, and I’m going to use it to sell my products/services/ideas/purple penguin seat cushions/whatever and I’m gonna network all over the place, and get a bunch of traffic and I’m going to be freaking rich.”

In that moment (that one up there^) this whole blog launching thing seems like a piece of cake. It’s not until you sit down and start writing….and keep writing….and write some more…and a little more….still writing….aaaaaaaahhhh……………that you are actually confronted with all these doofy little details.

Like “how many posts, exactly, should I be launching with? 1? 5? 20?”

Let’s get real for a second (you knew this was coming). There is no one right answer. Every blogger does it differently. I’ve launched brand new blogs for global brands with 1 post, and with 50 posts. Its up to you to look at your unique situation and find Your Number.

When you’re just starting out, no matter what you are using your blog for, you will probably fall into 1 of 2 categories.

1. More is Better
This is the club where you are attaching content to credibility, and are determined to avoid the “newbie blogger” label at all costs.

You’re ready to invest the time into creating a collection of posts to launch with but need to know when to stop. How many is too many? When can you move on and start working on other things? Is this your life now? Will you ever get this thing launched?

2. Let’s Go On This Journey Together
If you’re planning on writing that first, “welcome to my blog” post and taking your readers on a journey from day 1, congrats. You’re in group 2.

“1 post should be enough to get started.” “I won’t have any readers when I start, why not grow content at the same pace that I’m growing readers?”

Well, Grasshopper…the secret sauce on this kung pow chicken here is….that it is unlikely either of these categories will serve you very well. There is a medium somewhere between 1 and a freaking billion that will set you up for faster growth and the beginnings of a large and loyal audience.

Don’t Launch With Just 1

If you’re thinking about starting a blog, or a small business, or even looking to join really sick drop in volleyball league, you’ve probably had someone hit you up with the hard facts. “Most blogs fail. Most business never make it. Most volleyball players don’t get to wear the Nike sponsored speedos.”

Sure. That’s true.

But, you’ve also got to consider the fact that MOST bloggers never invest the serious time it takes to build a business. When you throw out all of those people from the equation, the pool suddenly becomes a heck of alot smaller.

If you throw up 1 post, click “publish” and wait, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you are not taking this seriously enough. Do you even want to build a kick ass business and roll around in a big pile of money and champagne?

Money/champagne rolling is definitely possible (I’ve worked with bloggers who have been paid 50-60-70,000 dollars for just 1 project. One!) but 1 post aint gonna get you there.

People like content. If there is just the one post on your whole site, it’s likely that your reader, although totally digging your message, will move on with no way of ever finding you again.

The Magic Number

Regardless of the company, big or small, product or service, based in the US or Antarctica, I’ve found that readers look for about 3 separate pieces of content that they completely fall in love with before committing to follow that blog. Before you get bookmarked, subscribed to, or even “liked”, be ready to serve up at least 3 pieces of content per user.

Before you get bookmarked, subscribed to, or even “liked”, be ready to serve up at least 3 pieces of content per user. #momboss#hustle

Your Number is probably considerable higher than that. 3 posts per reader means that you must deliver 3 posts that perfectly match each new subscriber. Not every reader will be looking for the same things when they come to your blog.

If your goal is to attract quirky brides to-be who are looking for some amazing DIY wedding tips some of those women are going to be interested in dresses, some are going to be looking for awesome decor, and some are going to want inspiration for their invitations.

All 3 of those women are interested in different things. Decide on how many blog posts you should launch with by considering the amount of content necessary to deliver 3 solid posts to each of them.

Don’t Try To Please Everyone

A quick note here. I am not telling you to write on every subject under the sun. Check out this post for more on why a niche is important.

Decide How Many Blog Posts You Should Launch With

1. Fill Up Your First Page

How many blog posts does it take to fill up the first full page of your theme’s blog page? People love to scroll, so give them a solid list of posts.

I’ve found that the posts which get shifted onto page 2 of your blog don’t get nearly as much engagement. I would recommend launching with enough posts to fill up almost 1 full page of your blog, but not so many that readers need to click over to page 2.

2. Address Your Customer’s Pain Points

Consider your customer’s top 3 or 4 reasons for working with you. What is it that they need? What problem can you fix? Why are they searching for help? Figure out the answers to these questions and make sure you’ve written a blog post for each of them.

Posts that address your reader’s pain points make them stop and think “Wow! This person really gets me! This is exactly what I need.”

Posts that address your reader’s pain points make them stop and think “Wow! This person really gets me! This is exactly what I need.”

These articles make sales easier and lend credibility to your brand. Don’t launch without them.

3. Reference Your Products or Services

Include at least one post in your launch lineup that references whatever it is that you’re selling. Even though blogging is all about providing value to readers, don’t lose sight of what you’re actually doing here.

You need to have this post in your arsenal so that you link to it when you’re talking about your business, so that you can motivate your social media followers to buy from you, and so that you don’t lose sight of your personal mission.

Don’t Write Too Many

Find your number and bang out those posts in time for your launch. Don’t commit to writing too many though. Launching your blog requires a shit ton of work and that means more than just writing a great collection of blog posts.

Plan out every post you need for your launch and start budgeting your time to get more done. Download my free Content Calendar and start writing.